


we're gonna make you pop-u-lar

by villiageidiot



Category: Glee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-31
Updated: 2013-08-31
Packaged: 2017-12-26 15:33:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/villiageidiot/pseuds/villiageidiot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Blaine Anderson moves to Lima the summer before his senior year of high school, he realizes that he can be anything he wants. He can be any<em>one</em> he wants.</p>
<p>He can be <em>popular.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	we're gonna make you pop-u-lar

When Blaine Anderson moves to Lima the summer before his senior year of high school, his brother hands him a list that says ‘Cooper’s Guide to Being Awesome’. Blaine skims it over quickly to see things like “girls dig a little stalking” and “learn how to moonwalk” then immediately deposits it in his trashcan.

It gets him thinking, though, and the night before his first day of classes, he hunts online for some tips. It’s his last year of high school and he can start out fresh. He can be anything he wants. He can be any _one_ he wants.

He can be _popular._

: : :

STEP ONE: Get on the school team. Any team.

Blaine plays around with his pen as he sits in homeroom waiting for the first bell to ring. He chews on the cap nervously because how the heck is he supposed to join a team? He’s never actually played football and he knows next to nothing about soccer. He figures this step may have to be a pass.

A few moments later, the morning announcements begin to play on the TV. It’s pretty standard stuff like the lunch menu, introducing new staff, that sort of deal. Blaine goes back to staring at the list in front of him and chewing on his pen.

He glances back to the TV when the announcer, some kid with old-school Beiber hair and thick rimmed glasses, starts to talk about after-school tryouts. He reminds everyone where the cross-country team meets, when the soccer players practice, and what time football conditioning begins. He follows it up with some football footage from the previous season and Blaine stares longingly at the screen because god, being a football player would be such an in to the cool kids. Then he watches a little longer and actually looks at what the football players are _doing_ , which is dropping the ball and accidentally tackling their own teammates and just generally _not winning_.

He hums to himself. Maybe he _can_ find a team to join.

: : :

Blaine is in the locker room ten minutes after the last bell rings. Most of the players are already in football gear but there are a few guys that stand around awkwardly alongside Blaine listening to Coach Beiste yell at everyone. He listens intently to everything she says (yells) and then he signs up for try-outs when she’s done. A tall kid eyes him suspiciously as Blaine writes his name out but he just smiles in response. If he’s going to be a football player then he obviously needs football player friends.

“So who are you?” the tall kid asks as Blaine heads towards the locker room door.

“Blaine Anderson,” he answers with another smile, hand extended.

The tall kid eyes him again but eventually reaches out to shake his hand. “You’re new here?”

“Yeah,” Blaine says back. “Just moved to Lima a few weeks ago.”

“That sucks,” the guy says. “Your senior year in a new school, I mean.”

Blaine shrugs. “I guess. This school looks great, though. Everyone seems really nice.”

Just then some guy that looks like he _has_ to be a linebacker shoves a freshman into a locker and Blaine blinks. Or okay, maybe not quite everyone seems really nice.

“Not really,” Tall Guy says. “Most guys here are a bunch of a-holes. And the girls are — well, it’s not cool to say bad things about girls so I’ll let you find out for yourself.”

“Oh,” is all Blaine can think of to say as he overhears another two guys talking about slushying ‘some drama nerds’. Huh, he never knew slushy could be used as a verb.

“Finn Hudson,” the tall kid says. “I’m the team captain.”

Blaine smiles again. “Hi, Finn. Nice to meet you.”

“What’s with the sweater vest, nerd?” some kid with a Mohawk says as he walks up to Finn. “Tell me Mr. Rogers here isn’t trying to join the team.”

Blaine frowns and says, “I think Mr. Rogers was more of a cardigan guy, actually. Not so much with the sweater vests.”

“Whatever,” Mohawk says with an eye roll before turning to look at Finn. “Let’s go find some AV turds to slushy.”

Blaine stares after them as they leave and really, really hopes that slushying people isn’t a popularity requirement.

: : :

He spends the next week getting tackled, running up bleachers and then running down bleachers, doing pushups and situps and chinups and pullups, and desperately trying to hold onto a football while twenty guys twice his size chase after him.

It all pays off because on Monday, he sees his name on the roster that Coach Beiste hangs outside of the locker room. And after another week of running away from twenty guys twice his size chasing after him, he even gets bumped up to varsity. He’s a _varsity_ player, heck yeah.

Step one, check.

: : :

STEP TWO: Land the head cheerleader.

Blaine worries his lip as he reads line two of his list over and over again trying to find a loophole. He wonders if becoming besties with one of the senior cheerleaders would count? Quinn Fabray is in a few of his AP classes and seems pretty smart. They could be friends. Maybe that would work?

He sighs, though, and knows it’s hopeless. Dating a cheerleader isn’t something in the cards for Blaine Anderson. They all seem great and there are clearly some very beautiful girls but still … they’re _girls_.

: : :

Now that he’s a football player, he gets to eat lunch with the rest of the team. They’re usually rowdy and almost always obnoxious but hey, it comes with the popularity territory.

He’s poking at his grilled chicken (at least it looks like grilled chicken) when Mike nudges him with his shoulder. “You need to meet people, man. Outside of the football circle.”

Blaine gives Mike a quizzical look. “What’s wrong with the football circle?”

Mike gives him a blank look as they hear some guys a few seats over talking about various STDs and then hear the two players across the table complain about having to take Algebra 2 three years in a row. Blaine nods his head and says, “Okay, point taken.”

“Meet people,” Mike says again. “There’s more to this school than these guys.”

“Right,” Blaine says. “I know. But it’s only been two weeks—”

“Meet _cheerleaders_ ,” Mike interrupts. “Half the team is dating a cheerleader.”

Blaine looks back down at his probably-chicken and pokes at it with a little more force. “Cheerleaders aren’t really my thing, actually,” he says quietly. “I mean, they seem really nice,” he adds, not knowing if Mike’s girlfriend happens to be a cheerleader, “but it’s just — I’m gay. So.”

He looks up to see Mike giving him a side eye. “Yeah, I know, but I thought all guys liked cheerleaders. Isn’t it like … a thing?”

Blaine doesn’t really know how to respond because hello, cheerleaders are still _girls_ , so it doesn’t somehow make them exempt.

He takes a few more bites of his chicken and bitterly takes step two off his list.

: : :

They’re at a Friday pep assembly when Blaine finally figures out what Mike was implying. They’re supposed to run out into the gymnasium while the wheelchair Beiber kid announces their names and gets the school pumped up for the first football game of the season. It starts with a cheerleading routine, though, and … yeah, Blaine gets what he was implying. Oh good _god_ does he finally get it.

There is this guy. And he is a cheerleader. And he is beyond hot.

“Who is that?” Blaine asks Mike from where they stand on the side of the gym, just out of sight beyond the huge strip of paper they’re supposed to run through.

“Who?” Mike asks, trying to follow Blaine’s line of vision. “Oh, Kurt?”

“Kurt?” Blaine asks back, eyes wide. “He’s a cheerleader?”

“He’s _the_ cheerleader,” Mike answers. “Team captain, varsity since his sophomore year, won them Nationals two years running.”

Blaine can barely swallow as he watches him. Perfect chestnut hair swooped up out of his face, pale _flawless_ skin, well-defined arms, lean frame — oh he is so, _so_ landing the head cheerleader.

: : :

During the game that night, he runs faster than he ever thought he could, jumps higher, dodges quicker. The other team is good, sure, but no way Blaine is messing up in front of the hot cheerleading captain.

They win the game which, judging by the epic freakout the crowd has, is the first time that’s happened in a long time. While his teammates are running around and throwing their helmets into the air and pouring Gatorade on each other, Blaine looks over to watch the cheerleaders have a little celebration of their own. Instead of throwing helmets, though, they’re throwing actual _people_ into the air. After Kurt does some high kick and/or jump thing, he looks over and meets Blaine’s eyes from across the field.

Blaine’s eyes widen and he has a brief mental meltdown. Kurt is _looking_ at him.

Kurt’s smile doesn’t fade but the eye contact lasts only a few seconds before his attention is back on the crowd. He watches Kurt do a few more high kick and/or jump things before Blaine’s teammates tug him back towards the bench and pour Gatorade on him. He tries to pull away because the last thing his shellacked hair needs is to be mixed with some colored corn syrup but unfortunately, he’s not quick enough.

He glances back towards the cheerleaders, hoping that Kurt’s not watching the whole mess, and is relieved to see that they’ve already packed up. Blaine’s dignity is safe for one more day.

: : :

They finally meet a few days later. Blaine spends his study hall trying to track Finn down and finally finds him in the library a few minutes before the bell rings. He’s leaning up against the circulation desk talking to someone —

— Kurt. Talking to _Kurt_.

Blaine straightens up and smooths down his cardigan then takes a few brave steps towards the desk.

“Finn, hey,” Blaine says quietly, eyes firmly locked on Finn’s. “Coach wanted me to give you this.”

Finn looks up at Blaine’s voice then down at the playbook he holds out. “Oh, cool. Thanks, man.”

Blaine nods and just stands there awkwardly. It takes him several seconds but he finally meets Kurt’s eyes. Kurt, who’s simply watching Blaine with a small smile and his head tilted to the side. Blaine smiles back.

“Blaine,” he says, holding out his hand. And now that he’s looking at Kurt, he can’t bring himself to look away. He just keeps staring and staring and —

“Anderson,” Kurt fills in, voice soft. “Number 19, wide receiver. I know who you are.”

Blaine blinks. “Oh. Right.”

“I’m a cheerleader for the football team,” he explains unnecessarily, gesturing down to his way-too-tight polyester shirt. “It’s basically a requirement to know who’s on the football team.”

“Oh,” Blaine says again with an embarrassed laugh. “It’s just — I’m new. So I assumed, you know, it’s a big school and there are a lot of kids and — yeah.” He feels like a moron, not even able to get a few coherent sentences out, but Kurt just looks pleasantly amused.

“I know who you are,” Kurt repeats, still with that same small smile.

“Hey, I’ll meet you at the car after practice,” Finn suddenly says to Kurt and oh yeah, Finn’s still there.

The bell rings and before Blaine can even get a goodbye out, Kurt’s grabbing his bag and heading towards the door.

He glances over his shoulder, though, and gives Blaine a coy smile. “Nice meeting you, Blaine Anderson.”

: : :

The next Friday, Blaine spends almost half the night watching the cheerleaders. When he’s on the field, he’s got his head in the game because _seriously,_ he’s not making an ass out of himself in front of the whole school. But when he’s on the bench, he’s watching Kurt. By the end of the third quarter, he’s even got a few of their routines memorized.

There’s a lot of watching. And sadly, it doesn’t go unnoticed.

Blaine’s heading back to his car after the end of the game, making his way across the darkened school parking lot, when he notices that Finn’s car is parked next to his. And closer still, he notices that Kurt is waiting by Finn’s minivan, which, _hello,_ Kurt is standing alone next to Blaine’s car, best Friday night _ever._ He’s immediately, intensely grateful he took that post-game shower before leaving the locker room.

“You might win a few more games if you watched the field as much as you watch the cheerleaders,” Kurt tells him with a raised eyebrow as Blaine reaches his car. “Helpful suggestion.”

“Hey,” Blaine says, defensive. “We won, didn’t we?” He feels his face get a little warm, though, because Kurt just basically called him out on being a creepy stalker.

Kurt smiles at him. “We did,” he agrees.

“And I scored the winning touchdown,” Blaine reminds him. “So the watching couldn’t have been _that_ detrimental.”

“No, I guess not,” Kurt says with a soft voice, still smiling.

They stand there awkwardly for a few moments. “I’m sorry, though,” Blaine says. “For watching. I didn’t mean to make it weird.”

Kurt scoffs. “You’re hardly the only one on that bench mooning over a cheerleader.”

Blaine laughs nervously. “Mooning, I wouldn’t say _mooning.”_ It’s only like, a month into the school year. He can’t have Kurt think he’s strange already.

He rolls his eyes. “You’re a McKinley High football player. I think salivating over cheerleaders with short skirts and high ponies is obligatory.”

Blaine blinks. “Oh. I — no.”

“No?” Kurt says slowly.

“No,” Blaine repeats. “Cheerleaders in short skirts, that’s not really my thing.”

“Ah,” he says, rolling his eyes again. “So you’re one of _those?_ Aself-actualized teenager, a high schooler that doesn’t objectify women, is that it?”

“No,” Blaine answers. “Wait, I _don’t_ objectify women, that’s true, but I actually meant that no, cheerleaders _in skirts_ isn’t my thing.”

Kurt looks unconvinced. “Blaine, all high school boys like to look at cheerleaders.”

“Yes, sure,” Blaine says, exasperated. “But there are ones that don’t wear short skirts. There are ones that wear — those.” He gestures to Kurt’s pants and feels his face getting pink again.

Kurt looks startled. “Oh.”

Blaine opens his mouth to say something, _anything,_ but Finn breaks the silence before he can. “Hey, guys. Kurt, let’s go. I want ice cream,” he says as he climbs into his car. He doesn’t even spare the two of them a glance.

“I’ll — I guess I’ll see you Monday?” Blaine asks.

Kurt nods and they watch each other for a few more moments before Kurt climbs into the passenger seat. He rolls the window down as Finn starts the engine and watches Blaine some more.

“Good game, Blaine Anderson,” he says with that same coy smile. Blaine grins back at him.

Step two, in progress.

: : :

STEP THREE: Dress for success.

During homeroom on Monday morning, Blaine tries to figure out how he can pull this one off. His wardrobe isn’t exactly … _current._ He glances around to see the girls in Gap dresses and Old Navy cardigans, sees the guys wearing Abercrombie and American Eagle. Then he glances down and straightens his bowtie self-consciously.

Short of burning his wardrobe and shoplifting an entire Hollister store, he’s screwed.

: : :

When he opens his locker after lunch, a small red and black box almost falls out. It startles him and sort of freaks him out until he hears Mike over his shoulder.

“It’s a Spirit Box,” he explains.

Blaine eyes the box suspiciously before taking it out. “A what?”

“Spirit Box,” Mike repeats. “The cheerleaders do it for the football team. You know, cookies and candy.”

They both watch Finn walk by, eating one chocolate chip cookie and holding two more in his hand.

Mike shrugs. “They’re cool. Gets everyone in the spirit. Hence the name.”

“Oh,” Blaine says, still staring at his box.

Mike pauses and takes a step closer as he looks over Blaine’s shoulders. “That’s a small box. I’m guessing you didn’t get any cookies.”

He slowly opens his box and Mike’s right, definitely no candy or cookies inside. Instead there’s only a handwritten note. _Good luck, Blaine Anderson. We’ll be watching you. :)_ His heart starts beating double time because he knows without a shadow of a doubt that Kurt Hummel put this in his locker.

“That sucks,” Mike says. “Sorry. I’ll bring my cookies to sixth period so you can have one.”

Blaine blinks down at his box and can’t remember how to move his muscles. Kurt Hummel was in his locker. And left a handwritten _note._ Who even cares about stupid cookies.

: : :

After practice, he notices that the cheerleaders are still in the gym as he heads for the locker room. He purposely doesn’t stick around because subtly perving on Kurt during a game is one thing but chilling on the bleachers and blatantly perving on him under bright florescent lighting is something else entirely.

When he changes and comes back out, though, they’re still practicing and Blaine takes his time walking towards the gym doors. So much time, in fact, that by the time he’s almost outside, cheerleading practice is over and Kurt’s right behind him with his duffel bag.

“Late practice?” he asks Kurt, slowing down so that they’re walking side-by-side.

Kurt shrugs. “We have a competition next Thursday. We’ll have late practices all week.”

“Oh, a competition?” Blaine says, brightening up. “That’s great. Are you nervous?”

Kurt scoffs. “Hardly. We’ll take the trophy in our sleep.”

Blaine nods. “So — where is it? Maybe I could — do people come watch? Is that a thing?”

Kurt doesn’t answer right away but when they reach the doors, he pauses and leans his back against the door frame. “People come watch,” he says finally, tilting his head and watching Blaine carefully.

Blaine pauses with him and just stares. They’ve both been practicing for hours and Blaine looks like something died on his head but Kurt still looks impeccable, not a hair out of place. How is that even _possible_.

“Okay,” Blaine says, voice catching. “Where? When?”

Out of nowhere, there’s a loud car horn and they both look up to see Finn sitting in his minivan, impatient.

Kurt gives Blaine another one of those flirty smiles and says, “Good luck on Friday, Blaine.”

: : :

On Tuesday, another small box falls out of his locker. No cookies or candy, just another handwritten note. _Good luck, Mr. Wide Receiver, even though I don’t think you’ll need it. P.S. It’s at East Valley High school in Columbus. Five p.m._

“No cookies again?” Finn asks as he walks by with two Kit Kat bars. “That sucks, dude. Your cheerleader _sucks_.”

Blaine shrugs and doesn’t say anything, just pushes the note in between a few of his textbooks so that none of his teammates can read it. He tries to wipe the smile from his face but it’s impossible.

: : :

On Wednesday there’s a note _and_ a cookie. It’s clearly handmade which is awesome because the rest of the guys have been eating processed crap from Wal-Mart.

The note simply says _Fantastic tie._

Blaine flushes a little and tugs at it subconsciously as he turns away from his locker to face the hallway.

“ _Finally_ ,” Finn says, seeing the cookie. “You finally got something good.”

“Wait and another note?” Sam asks over Finn’s shoulder. “What’s with the notes?”

“Nothing,” Blaine says quickly, shoving the note back into his locker. “Just motivational words.”

They all seem to let it go, too fascinated with their own (preprocessed) baked goods.

Kurt walks by and makes brief barely-there eye contact with Blaine. He smiles but before Blaine can smile back, Kurt’s already mid-conversation with Santana again.

Blaine tugs at his tie once more and watches him walk away, smiling so hard it almost hurts.

: : :

On Thursday there’s an actual tie. Like a real silk _bowtie_. It has footballs on it.

They make eye contact from across the lunch room but Kurt doesn’t look away like he usually does. He holds Blaine’s gaze and doesn’t break it until Puck throws a bag of chips at Blaine’s face to get his attention.

: : :

On Friday, there’s only a note. _I hope you like milkshakes._

Blaine stares at it until the bell rings trying to figure out what the hell that’s supposed to mean.

: : :

What it means is that Kurt’s a jerk.

He waits until the defensive line-up is out on the field — when Blaine is just chilling on the bench with nothing to do but stare at the cheerleaders — to break out into a very PG-13 cheer of _My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Field._

Blaine’s mouth falls open slightly.

Then Kurt does some like somersault thing mid-air and it ends with a split and Blaine’s jaw drops all the way open.

: : :

They win the game and when Blaine jogs off the field with some of his teammates, Kurt’s waiting by the fence with a few of the other cheerleaders.

“Good game, boys,” Kurt tells them, eyes fixed on Blaine.

“Thanks,” he answers, throat suddenly dry.

They smile at each other for few moments and before Blaine knows it, they’re standing alone on the edge of the field. Kurt takes a step forward and brushes some dirt off of Blaine’s shoulder pads. They’re standing close, too close for Blaine to be wearing skintight pants.

Kurt takes a step back and lets out a small laugh. “You look good in Spandex.”

Blaine’s eyes widen. “Wait, what?”

Kurt shrugs and his cheeks get a little pink. “Good but distracting.”

Blaine blinks. “Oh, yeah, like you have room to talk.”

When Kurt doesn’t say anything, Blaine gestures weakly to his cheerleader uniform. “What is that? _Painted_ on?”

He drops his eyes and tries to hide a smile. “They’re _pants,_ Blaine.”

“Sure,” he says, rolling his eyes. “If that’s what you want to call them.”

Finn interrupts and throws his arm around Blaine’s shoulders and _dammit Finn, stop doing that_.

“You rock at catching my balls, man,” Finn tells Blaine.

Kurt stares at the two of them, scrunching his nose in distaste. “Please never say that again.”

Finn ignores him as they walk towards the school to grab their things from the locker room. Kurt splits off when they reach the parking lot and says, “I’ll meet you at the car, Finn.” He looks over to Blaine and drops his voice. “See you Monday. You may or may not have a new tie in your locker.”

Blaine watches him go, eyes still a little wide.

Step three, check.

: : :

STEP FOUR: Take a hottie to a school dance

As he looks over his checklist during homeroom the following week, Blaine can’t help grinning to himself. He thinks of the Homecoming fliers he’s seen around the school and realizes that he can _nail_ this one.

: : :

On Thursday, he skips football practice and heads to Columbus to watch Kurt’s cheerleading competition, making up some excuse to Coach Beiste about an ACT practice test.

There are a _lot_ of people there and so many different colored uniforms that Blaine’s head sort of spins. He buys a soda then finds a seat in the gym bleachers before waiting patiently for McKinley’s squad to perform. He has to sit through dozens of routines from dozens of schools and realizes that yeah, Kurt’s squad really _is_ fantastic. These schools have nothing on the McKinley Titans.

Some of the teams have some skanky-ish uniforms (hello there, underboobs of the Waldorf Boarding School girls), most aren’t co-ed so they can’t pull off some of the more difficult moves (sorry about that pyramid tumble, Kennedy High), and none one of the cheerleaders — not one — has the grace and form of Kurt Hummel, McKinley High School Cheerleading Captain.

Blaine watches their routine breathlessly and awkwardly clutches his soda bottle to distract his brain from any pervy thoughts while Kurt like, bends himself in half and does some gyrating thrusty move in the back of the formation and —

Blaine looks away and takes a deep, calming breath.

The squad does a few cheers, most of which Blaine has seen from the sidelines, and he’s surprised how different it is to see the routines directly in front of him under gymnasium lights instead of from the side under the blinding football field lights. They also perform some impressive dance routines to some catchy remixes, ones that involve more thrusting and gyrating.

As they finish their routine and take their bow, Kurt sees Blaine in the crowd and visibly starts. He blinks before brightening his smile and finishing his bow.

Blaine sits through several more routines and quite a few more tumbles and he’s not surprised when McKinley takes the first place trophy. Kurt and Quinn hold the up trophy and again, he finds Blaine’s face in the crowd. Kurt gives him the smallest of flirty waves and as Blaine’s heartbeat starts to pound and his pulse quickens, he vaguely wonders if this is what it feels like to swoon.

: : :

“You came,” Kurt says as they find each other in the parking lot outside of their school bus.

“Of course,” Blaine says with a modest shrug. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Kurt laughs quietly. “Because the football players aren’t really known for cheering on their own cheerleaders.”

“Oh,” he says, shrugging again. “Well, I’ll be at every one, front and center. Although Finn thinks I’m at an ACT practice exam and I’ll have to find another excuse for the next one.”

Kurt watches him carefully then pulls Blaine’s hand into his own. “Thank you for coming.”

Blaine swallows thickly. “Of course,” he repeats quietly. He pauses and clears his throat. “You’re probably hungry after all of that. Do you want to go somewhere?”

He gives Blaine an apologetic look. “I can’t. We all have to ride back together as a team.”

“Okay,” he says with a nod, trying not to sound too disappointed.

Kurt gives his hand a squeeze before letting go. “Give me one minute,” he tells Blaine, quickly bouncing up the bus steps. Blaine watches him have a heated discussion with Santana, one that involves dramatic hand gestures and narrowed eyes. He’s bouncing back down the stairs a moment later, a bright smile on his face.

“Change of plans,” he says. “I explained to the co-captain that I have an ACT practice exam tonight.”

He reaches for Blaine again and they walk towards Blaine’s car hand in hand.

: : :

Dinner is awesome and they sort of play footsie under the table and flirt with each other across the booth but Blaine refuses to think of it as an actual date since they’re at a Subway.

It’s amazing, even though it’s just Subway, and he swears that his turkey sandwich tastes drastically better than it does when he goes there with his brother or with a few of the guys on the team. He almost can’t finish eating it, his nerves so high strung with excitement and possibility.

They sing show tunes on the way back to Lima and Blaine realizes he’ll do almost anything to make Kurt Hummel fall in love with him.

: : :

He finds Kurt in the library during his study hall the next day and steels himself to strengthen his resolve.

“Well, hello,” Kurt says, looking up from his book from behind the circulation desk.

“Hey,” Blaine replies, felling nervous and jittery.

Kurt watches him for a moment. “Are you okay?” he asks with an amused smile.

Blaine nods stiffly. “I was wondering — I wanted to know if maybe —”

Kurt raises his eyebrows expectantly. “Yes?” he asks. And then, “You’re cute when you’re nervous.”

He laughs to himself and feels some of the tension fade away. “Would you want to go to Homecoming with me?”

Kurt doesn’t say anything right away, still looking amused. He hums for a moment then says, “A formal school dance? We haven’t even gone on a proper date yet.”

“Oh,” he says, face falling. “Is it too soon? Am I rushing things? Should I wait until—”

“ _Blaine_ ,” Kurt interrupts. “I just meant that we should go on a date.”

“Oh,” he says again, voice barely above a whisper. “Yes, let’s do that.”

: : :

They go to Breadstix which is apparently the place to be. It’s a sea of McKinley letter jackets scattered throughout the restaurant and every few minutes, a teammate or a basketball player or one of Kurt’s cheerleaders walks by their booth. Most of the guys give Blaine a wink and a thumbs up from behind Kurt’s back. He wants to be annoyed or embarrassed but instead he’s just giddy at the idea that Kurt’s sitting across from him, that Kurt wants to be near him.

When Kurt excuses himself to the restroom, Santana slides into his empty seat. “From zero to hero,” she says with a raised eyebrow. “Lima’s own tiny, _tiny_ Hercules.”

“Hi, Santana,” he replies. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment so I’ll just say thank you.”

She eyes him carefully. “Hummel seems to like you which means you’re either some kind of pathetically droll Prince Charming or you’re getting him all hot and bothered by flashing a little ankle.”

Blaine blinks at her. “I still don’t know if these are compliments so … thank you?”

“Pretty impressive,” she continues then gestures to his sweater vest. “You wear old man clothes and still manage to find yourself on the arm of McKinley’s gay poster child.” She pauses then glances over to her table, eyeing Quinn. “Well, one gay poster child, anyway.”

Blaine has no idea what that’s supposed to mean but he gets an uneasy feeling at what he _thinks_ she’s implying. She’s gone before he can ask her to clarify but when Kurt comes back and takes his spot across from Blaine, he wonders if what she means is true. If Kurt’s only with him because Blaine’s part of the in-crowd. He stomach drops a little bit when he thinks about the possibility of Kurt dating him only because they look good together with their matching McKinley uniforms.

Easy solution, he realizes. Just keep being popular.

: : :

Two days before the dance, they quickly pass each other in the hall and Kurt says, “Blue boutonniere.”

Blaine spins around to call out after him. “You got me a blue boutonniere?”

“No, that’s what you’ll be getting me,” he casually replies over his shoulder, almost out of sight. “Periwinkle,” he clarifies before he’s lost in a sea of backpacks and varsity jackets.

: : :

He rings the Hummel doorbell at six p.m. on the dot. Finn answers looking so well dressed that Blaine knows Kurt had to have orchestrated the whole thing from the deep maroon tie to the bright shiny shoes.

“You —” Blaine starts as he sees Kurt in the living room. “You look amazing.”

Kurt smiles and smooths down the front of his jacket. “Why thank you, Blaine Anderson. You look quite fetching yourself.”

Blaine returns the smile and tugs at his cuffs just for something to do, something to stop himself from pushing Kurt up against a wall and kissing him senseless in front of his dad and brother.

“Let’s go,” Finn says, rolling his eyes, “before you guys end up making out in the living room and turning it weird.”

Blaine laughs nervously but heeds the warning. He holds his hand out for Kurt and as they head for the car, he squeezes it tightly and thinks about how his life is pretty damn awesome.

: : :

Kurt, unsurprisingly, is elected to the Homecoming Court, as are most of his friends. Finn, Santana, Quinn, Mike, Sam, they’re all there. As they stand on the stage, it’s just a line of football players and cheerleaders with Stoner Brett as the single exception.

“I feel like royalty,” Blaine tells him a few moments later as they twirl around to a Katy Perry remix.

Kurt laughs. “You?”

Blaine grins at him. “Yeah. You have a crown and everything.”

Kurt’s face falls slightly. “Are you upset you weren’t nominated? Look, it’s just a dumb vote and it’s only because you’re still new. I’m sure it’ll all be different by prom.”

“What?” Blaine laughs. “I’m not upset at all. But I’m _dating_ Homecoming royalty so doesn’t that sort of make me royal by association?”

Kurt doesn’t say anything, just gives Blaine a pleased smile.

He freezes as he replays what he said. “I mean, we — we _are_ dating, right?”

Kurt huffs out a small laugh. “You’re the football MVP and I’m the cheerleading captain. I think it’s a high school decree that we date.”

Blaine swallows thickly and stares at Kurt’s mouth. “Oh. Well, if it’s a decree…”

“Bit of a cliché, though,” Kurt whispers.

The DJ switches over to a slow song and the lights dim slightly as a mirrored ball hanging from a ceiling shines over them. Blaine reaches out for Kurt’s elbow and gently tugs him closer. “Is it cliché to kiss you right now?” he says quietly.

“At a Homecoming dance in the high school gym with a Top 40 ballad playing in the background? Definitely.”

Blaine nods and tries not to act disappointed. “Okay.”

Kurt rests their foreheads together. “But I love cliches,” he says. He closes the few remaining inches between them until they’re finally _finally_ kissing.

Blaine’s hands slide up Kurt’s arms and over his shoulders until he’s gently curling them around his neck, pulling him closer. He feels Kurt’s hands slide down his waist, tightly gripping Blaine’s hips and tugging him until they’re flush against each other. It’s a sweet moment, tender and innocent, which is exactly how Blaine thinks their first kiss _should_ be. It’s interrupted, though, when a small click and a bright flash let them know that they’ve just been photographed. They break apart and watch one of the yearbook kids smile and wave before turning to take a few more pictures.

“How about making out under the bleachers?” Blaine asks, voice suddenly shaky. “Is that cliché?”

“Yes,” Kurt answers, scrunching his nose. “And also tacky.”

Blaine shrugs and smiles. “Worth a shot.”

He gives Blaine a coy smile in response. “But kissing me goodnight on my front porch is the best kind of cliché,” he teases, reaching up to play with Blaine’s tie. “And for so long that my dad starts to flicker the porch light.”

They sway together for the rest of the night, even when Flo Rida and Pitbull come on.

: : :

There’s a small picture of the two of them in the next issue of the school paper. Not the one of them kissing but another candid shot of them mid-laugh next to a few small photos of some of the other members of the Homecoming court.

Blaine can barely pull his eyes away as he sees how happy the two of them look and he immediately hangs it in his locker.

Step four, check.

: : :

STEP FIVE: Get into a fight.

Blaine spends another homeroom mulling over his checklist. Fighting isn’t really his strong suit. He could hold his own, sure, but getting angry isn’t something he’s good at. He’s better at calm, rational conversations to resolve tense, problematic situations. He doesn’t know how to be in a fight if he’s not angry with someone.

Turns out, he’s wrong. Turns out, he can be in a fight when someone is angry with _him_.

: : :

There’s a guy that hangs around the fence during the Friday night games. He’s one of the theater kids which Blaine only knows because he’s occasionally on the morning announcements trying to hype people up for auditions.

The thing is, though, that he hangs around the fence several yards away from the bleachers. You know, where the _cheerleaders_ happen to be. He doesn’t really watch the game much. Not that Blaine can blame him because if he had the choice of watching Kurt do some midair flips or watching chubby linebackers flop around on the football field, he sure as heck knows which one _he’d_ choose.

Still though. It’s weird. Everyone knows he and Kurt are dating. They’re not exactly subtle about it. So this kid staring at Kurt all the time? It’s weird. And tacky.

Which is why, for a brief moment, Blaine thinks about it. He thinks maybe he could fight Chandler.

: : :

Turns out, no. No he cannot.

Yeah, sure, Chandler has a thing for Blaine’s boyfriend and yeah, Blaine can only handle him in small doses but when it comes down to it, he’s harmless. A hundred percent totally harmless.

Blaine glances over every once in awhile from his spot on the bench to see Chandler at the edge of the field, staring at Kurt with hearts in his eyes. Then he glances over to Kurt who’s watching _Blaine_ with those same heart eyes. Blaine can’t help but smile back and sometimes, he quickly tugs his helmet over his head to blow Kurt a small kiss.

Kurt subtly tries to catch it even when he’s being tossed in the air.

So he rules Chandler out.

: : :

Then there’s the student teacher. He’s charismatic and smiles a lot, especially whenever Kurt is talking. No matter what Kurt’s saying, their student teacher is always wearing that annoying perpetual smile. He’s also got the British accent and thanks to a weekend-long Dowton Abbey marathon, Blaine knows how much of a sucker Kurt is for those damn British accents.

Maybe Mr. Crawford. Maybe Blaine could fight Mr. Crawford.

: : :

Again, no.

Blaine remembers that he actually wants go to college. Physical altercations with a teacher would probably be a setback. And he’s pretty sure that even a verbal spar would end up on his permanent record somehow.

So that one is a no.

: : :

He briefly considers that smarmy creep on the lacrosse team. He’s irritating and always trying to start drama with him and Kurt. Sebastian is always a possibility.

He decides against it, though, because a) Blaine always feels the need to Purell himself after just a quick conversation with Sebastian so god knows how he would handle actually being around him for any length of time and b) Kurt really, _really_ likes pissing off Sebastian and getting under his skin so he figures he should leave it to Kurt.

: : :

Turns out, it’s none of them. In the end, it’s Kurt.

Blaine’s sort of blindsided by the whole thing. One minute, they’re pressed up against each other side-by-side in the middle of the library, whispering and laughing quietly and doing a really bad job of pretending to study. The next minute, Kurt’s staring at him with wide eyes, looking hurt and speechless.

“What’s this?” Kurt asks quietly. Blaine looks up from the essay he’s been trying to write all week, the one that’s only got three sentences so far. He sees Kurt holding up a print out from the Internet, one that says _How to be Popular in Seven Easy Steps._

Blaine lets out an embarrassed laugh. “That’s — it’s dumb, I know. I found it the day before we started school.” His cheeks are pink because what kind of lame geek prints out a stupid list? It’s pretty embarrassing and he deserves whatever mocking jabs Kurt throws at him.

But Kurt’s not laughing. He doesn’t look amused at all, actually. He’s blinking rapidly like maybe he’s trying not to cry.

“Give it here,” Blaine says, gesturing to the paper. “I’m embarrassed enough.”

“ _You’re_ embarrassed?” Kurt whispers.

Blaine pauses and gives him a confused look. “Yeah? I’m like ten years old. It’s totally juvenile.”

Kurt narrows his eyes. “ _Land the head cheerleader_ ,” he reads aloud. He looks up at Blaine. “You have ‘in progress’ written below it.”

Blaine lets out another embarrassed laugh. “Well, it _was_ in progress at the time. We weren’t dating yet.” He watches Kurt carefully, trying to figure out why Kurt looks so betrayed when suddenly it clicks. He finally gets what Santana was implying that night at Breadstix. “Wait, no. I’m not dating you to _become_ popular!”

“ _Take a hottie to a school dance_ ,” he continues to read. He looks up to meet Blaine’s gaze and yeah, his eyes are definitely wet and Blaine feels like a total tool. “That’s why you asked me?”

“No,” Blaine says emphatically, reaching over to pull Kurt’s hands into his own. Kurt pulls them away. “Kurt, of _course_ not.”

“So what is all of this then? I’m supposed to believe it’s a coincidence?”

“I swear, that’s not why we’re dating! When I first started this, I knew I’d never be able to pull that second one off because just — how would I ever date a cheerleader? But then I _saw_ you —”

“And you saw a chance with the only gay cheerleader on the team?” he interrupts, still sounding hurt.

“No,” Blaine answers. “I saw you and realized that maybe I _could_ pull it off because all I wanted to do was meet you and talk to you and be near you. And I thought if I could do those things and tried hard enough, maybe I’d have a shot.”

“You mean manipulate me?” Kurt accuses. “Wear those clothes, flirt with me at the games? Show up to the competition? Ask me to a dance?”

“That’s not why I asked you!” Blaine insists, starting to feel a little panicky as Kurt moves his seat away. “I asked because I wanted to be there with you and dance with you and see you in a tux and — and so you could see _me_ in a tux.”

Kurt shakes his head and starts to look a little less hurt and a little more angry. “I hope it was worth it, Blaine. Using the head cheerleader to make your way to the top.”

So Blaine makes his way into complete panic mode. “Who cares about dumb popularity any more? I wanted to be popular for _you_.”

“To _land_ me,” Kurt grits out bitterly. He stands and grabs his bookbag. “This, us — we’re over.”

“You’re breaking up with me?” Blaine says as he stands up, loud enough that the whole library looks up.

Kurt rolls his eyes. “Were we even really dating?”

Blaine takes a startled step backwards. “How can you ask that? This hasn’t felt real to you?”

Kurt shakes his head to himself and turns his back towards Blaine, walking away. He doesn’t answer.

: : :

The fight works. Blaine’s popularity level skyrockets. Everyone wants to know the gossip and sit by him in the lunch room in case anything exciting happens. They want to soak up the drama and maybe even be a part of it.

Step five, check.

: : :

STEP SIX: Be the school topic

He doesn’t mull over his list during the next homeroom. He threw the dumb thing away before he even left that library.

Still, he remembers what the step is, knows what he has to do.

Sure, he’s already the school topic but he wants to be the topic in a _good_ way. And he won’t check this one off until he is. No one really knows what went down between the two of them, thank god, since Kurt’s too embarrassed and Blaine already feels enough of a horrible person; he sure as hell isn’t going to say anything.

But he _will_ let the student body know it was his fault and that he’s desperate to fix it.

: : :

The following Monday he starts off with the A/V club. He bribes Artie with some Comic-Con passes that his brother gave him and during the morning announcements, a small sign hangs over Artie’s shoulder, a simple white poster with simple block letters. _Blaine + Kurt._

It’s cliché but hey, Kurt goes for cliché.

On Tuesday, he wins over the lunch ladies. Below the board advertising the lunch special (meatloaf, corn, and applesauce all for four dollars), they add the little plastic letters: _Blaine & Kurt._

He gets a few jabs from the football players but he so doesn’t care. Kurt still ignores him though Blaine can see he looks a little flushed.

Wednesday is the Art kids. They slip something into Kurt’s locker during every period: pencil shadings or chalk art or whatever. He’s not exactly sure what all they put in there since he sort of gave them free reign but he’s pretty sure it won’t be offensive, just pretentious and weird like macrame or clay figurines. He sees Kurt after fifth period looking at something in his locker (please god, don’t let it be weird like macrame or clay figurines) and he’s got a soft smile though he clearly looks like he’s trying to hide it. Blaine grins all the way to his Government class.

It’s the Theater students turn on Thursday. They suggest lines from movies and plays, obscure ones Blaine’s never heard of. He writes the quotes on tiny little note cards then sneaks into Kurt’s locker before the first bell, sliding them into each one of Kurt’s text books.

The whole thing feels a little over-the-top and a lot ridiculous but if it works, he doesn’t care.

Friday morning, they have another pep rally to psych everyone up before the last game of the season and Blaine heads to Finn’s locker before homeroom. “So do you think Kurt will still date me if I’m not popular?”

Finn looks over and thinks for a minute. “I don’t think that stuff matters to him, man.”

Blaine sighs. “No, seriously, Finn. If in a few hours I lose every single cool point I’ve got, do you still think I’ve got a shot with him?”

Finn gives him a sympathetic smile and pats him on the shoulder. “Seriously, dude, I don’t think that stuff matters to him.”

And so Friday is the coup de gras, the crowning jewel, and he enlists the band kids. As the rally starts and the cheerleaders do their dance routine from the competition, Blaine watches impatiently from the side of the gym. The football players run out one-by-one and when it’s Blaine’s turn he stops front and center and nods his signal to the jazz band.

They start off loud and abruptly, the electric guitar startling most of the front row and everyone next to the speakers. Then the drums kick in and Blaine watches a few students start to give him skeptical looks. And then he starts to sing.

Kurt’s off to the side with the other cheerleaders so Blaine takes most of the first verse making his way over, finally standing in front of him as he sings _every February you’ll be my Valentine._ Kurt’s jaw is slightly hanging open and he looks absolutely thrown. Blaine glances around the bleachers to see everyone staring wide-eyed at the weirdo new kid hijacking a pep rally to make an ass of himself.

He’s undeterred and pulls Kurt towards the center of the gym, still holding his pom-poms. He pulls Kurt close then twirls him around as he sings _You make me feel like I’m living a teenage dream._ Kurt’s still totally bewildered so he lets himself be twirled around like a rag doll.

Blaine lets him go and leaves him in the middle of the floor while he dances around, falls on his knees, makes some dramatic show faces and even throws in some finger pointing in case Cooper actually knows what he’s talking about. By the end of the second verse, as he’s passionately belting out _My missing puzzle piece_ , he chances another look around the gym to see most of the upperclassmen laughing at him, the underclassmen looking a little mortified on his behalf, and the faculty looking at him like he’s a nutjob that just had a complete meltdown right in front of them.

His eyes are back to Kurt as he sings the last chorus, staring up at him with the most sincere look he can muster up, sings _My heart stops when you look at me._

Kurt looks down at him, a hand covering his mouth as it still hangs wide open.

The song ends and the gym is deathly quiet for a moment. It’s not long, though, before a few kids start to laugh and then a few more join in and then even more. There’s some scattered clapping but he’s pretty sure it’s to make fun of him and not to congratulate him on a job well done.

“I just committed social suicide,” Blaine whispers, still kneeling down. “Just so you can see how much I want to be with you.”

Kurt still stands there, silent.

Blaine stands and gives the graceful bow as a few more people clap and a lot more people laugh.

He walks off the gym floor and through the doors to head back to his locker. He figures he should head out before the last bell rings, maybe look into transferring to a school in New Zealand or something.

: : :

The next day, Kurt’s standing in front of Blaine’s locker when he gets to school.

“Hi,” Blaine says cautiously.

“You sure have this school wrapped around your finger,” Kurt says by way of a greeting. “The Art Club, the A/V students … well done.”

Blaine drops his eyes and feels his face get warm. Kurt’s tone is light but Blaine still doesn’t know how to respond. “I can’t imagine I have much clout anymore,” he replies after a few long moments.

He looks up in time to see Kurt roll his eyes. “They’re calling it the event of the semester, Blaine,” he says, holding out a copy of the school paper. “They changed their cover story overnight.”

Blaine blinks and stares down at the front page, a huge picture of him on his knees staring up at a slack-jawed Kurt.

“They gave your performance an A plus but the execution a solid B citing your lack of background dancers and/or singers.”

A few football players walk by and clap him forcefully on the back saying, “Nice moves, Anderson. Way to rock the mic.”

Blaine blinks again because he feels like he’s living in bizarro world. Is he seriously still cool after humiliating himself in front of the entire student body?

“Good luck tonight, Blaine Anderson,” Kurt says quietly, straightening Blaine’s bowtie before turning on his heel and leaving a stunned Blaine behind him.

: : :

They win the game. They went 4-6 for the season but still, they won the _last_ game of the season. It’s _awesome_.

He runs off the field and gets swarmed by the entire team because making the final touchdown pretty much makes you a badass. He extricates himself quickly, though, because the person he wants to share the celebration with is—

— Kurt, who’s running straight towards him. They meet in the middle and Blaine tears the pom-poms out of Kurt’s hands, throwing them to the side, while Kurt reaches up to push Blaine’s helmet up over his head and toss it somewhere on the field. Kurt’s grabbing his face, kissing him so hard their teeth clack, while Blaine’s grips Kurt’s hips so tightly that he’s sure he’s leaving bruises.

“Nice play out there,” Kurt says in between kisses. “That tuck and roll move in the third quarter was brilliant.”

Blaine hums his thank you and briefly pulls back to meet Kurt’s eyes and to regulate his inhales and exhales. “Nice dismount in that Go-Fight-Win cheer,” Blaine tells him on a shallow breath. “Perfect landing.”

Kurt lets out a quiet laugh before they’re pushing against each other again, kissing like no one is watching even though they both know everyone _is_.

Step six, check.

: : :

STEP SEVEN: Above all, be yourself.

The rest of the year flies by in a blur. Blaine’s not really sure how but somewhere along the way, they became the McKinley High golden couple.

Blaine joins the swimming team for the winter sport season and Kurt shows up to as many meets as his cheerleading schedule allows. Blaine’s fifty percent sure Kurt’s actually there to be a supportive boyfriend and fifty percent sure he’s only there to do a little staring since — well, Blaine’s wearing a Speedo, so. And Blaine goes to as many basketball games as he can fit in. Not to watch the game, obviously, but to watch his cheerleader captain of a boyfriend do some thrusty dance routines.

Then he joins the baseball team for the spring season. He probably only makes the roster because no one else really tries out and they stick him in the outfield so that he can’t do much damage but even still, he manages to catch some pretty epic pop flies and as he throws the ball towards the infield, he can see Kurt standing in the bleachers giving him an excited smile and wave. He always waves his mitt back. And it’s Kurt’s competition season so Blaine spends a lot of his weekends following Kurt from school to school, sitting in the bleachers with dozens of other doting boyfriends from a dozen other school districts.

: : :

They’re on Spring Break in Myrtle Beach, lying out on the towel to catch some sun (Blaine) and sitting under an umbrella to prevent skin poison (Kurt) when Blaine slips up.

He’s rolling his eyes as Kurt asks him to put on another coat of sunscreen. “Kurt, I’m already lathered in it; how much more can I possibly put on?”

Kurt takes his sunglasses off and narrows his eyes. “You’ll thank me when you don’t die from melanoma.”

“Oh my _god,”_ Blaine groans. “We’ve been out here for like twenty minutes. I think I’m safe.”

Kurt mutters under his breath as he slips his glasses back on. “Don’t come crying to me when you’re dead.”

Blaine bites his lip to stop himself from laughing but it doesn’t work. “That right there, that’s why I love you,” he says. “Because you say things like that.”

Kurt freezes and slides his sunglasses off again.

Blaine figures out what just happened and clears his throat. “Oh, right. That.”

They stare at each other for a few moments.

He gives Kurt an embarrassed shrug. “I’ve been meaning to mention it but — yeah. I — I’m in love with you.”

Kurt gives him a warm smile and whispers, “I love you, too.”

And the look Kurt gives him, the way he still stares at Blaine —

“—Ugh, fine, you win,” Blaine mutters. “Give me the sunscreen.”

: : :

When Prom rolls around, they’re both on the ballot. Blaine figures if either one of them wins, they both luck out because the other one is still royalty by default. And when he casts his own ballot, he circles Kurt’s name, no hesitation.

He probably shouldn’t be surprised — but he _is —_ when they’re both announced as winners, the majority of the senior class just circling both of their names instead of one of the prom queen nominees.

Most days, Blaine doesn’t know how this is actually his real life.

: : :

When the yearbook comes out a few days before the end of the year, Blaine gets swamped immediately. They all ask him to sign page 87 and as he flips through, he sees why. It’s a picture on the “superlatives” page, a picture of the two of them — _the_ picture of them — kissing at Homecoming. Below it says _Best Couple_. On page 88, there’s a shot of them staring at each other as they lean against their lockers and it’s above the caption _Most Likely to Still Be High School Sweethearts in Thirty Years._ Page 89 is _Most Athletic_ , a shot of Kurt in his cheerleading uniform next to Blaine in his spandex pants and football jersey, an artsy type photo of them from the back as they lean against the fence at the football field. And page 90 has their official Prom photo under _Prom’s Royal Couple._ (It also has Quinn as _Best Dressed_ , which he knows Kurt will be annoyed about losing, and thankfully, Quinn and Santana as _Most Epic Fight_ , which Blaine is intensely grateful not to have won.)

He smiles when he sees the giant heart Kurt drew at the bottom of the page. He signed his own name inside and made sure to leave enough space for Blaine to sign his, too.

“Well, that’s an impressive sweep of superlatives,” Kurt tells him later as he leans against Blaine’s locker.

“I know, right?” Blaine says back. “Kind of awesome.”

Kurt sighs. “Although —”

“Sorry about the Quinn thing,” Blaine fills in with a sympathetic frown.

Kurt shrugs and gives Blaine another sad sigh.

“There’s always next year,” Blaine says, trying to cheer him up.

Kurt gives him a confused look. “Meaning …?”

“You know, like maybe you can be the show-stealing freshman cheerleader and I’ll be the underdog football undergrad and we’ll be the university’s supercouple.”

“You’ve given this some thought,” Kurt says, slowly smiling.

Blaine shrugs. “It’s part of my charm.”

“It really is,” he agrees with a soft voice.

They lean in for one last high school hallway kiss but get interrupted by a few cheers and a few _ooohs_ and _ahhh_ from the girls.

“They like us,” Kurt tells him, forehead against Blaine’s.

“They do,” Blaine agrees. “ _Best Couple_. We can’t get more awesome than that.”

Sure, he didn’t get _Most Popular_ (Stoner Brett) or _Best Body_ (Sam). He didn’t get _Nicest Guy_ (Mike) or something cool like _Most Likely to Design a Time Machine_ (Artie). Instead he got singled out as part of the best duo, the greatest team. Blaine was right at the beginning of the school year; he really _could_ be anyone he wanted to be. He just didn’t know what that meant yet.

Being the guy Kurt Hummel is head over heels in love with? Check.

: : :

(EPILOGUE:

_They’re still high school sweethearts in thirty years.)_

: : :


End file.
